Guide to Security

The Mission

The marshals (often referred to as security) main goal is to enforce peace and order and to attempt to be mediators between crew when there is a conflict. It is not necessarily to arrest and fine people for every little infraction. Use your judgement. Arresting someone should be a last resort, not your first move. Obviously the more serious the crime is, the less likely it can be handled by anything short of an arrest. However if you're brigging people for calling you a jerk over the radio, or starting a man hunt over some graffiti, you're not only doing your job wrong, you're also probably going to get job banned. You're a peace keeper. Not the gestapo.

The Hierarchy

The warrant officer holds authority over the entire department.

The supply specialist holds authority over the the armory. They can authorize equipment and order officers within the armory, unless otherwise overridden by the warrant officer. The supply specialist is also responsible for the supplying and maintaining all materials in the armory from medical supplies, weapons, ammunition, and other relevant materials to both the marshals and the blackshield.

In short: The WO is in charge if you're on patrol, but if you're hanging out in the armory, the supply specialist gets to boss you around as well.

The Equipment

See Security Items and Standard Operating Procedure for details.

Be reasonable about what gear you’re carrying. Carrying more than the necessary amount of gear specified in SoP not only scares the crew, but it also presents a risk of that gear being stolen should you be caught off guard.

Furthermore, don’t overreact to an incident, and don’t over-arm yourself either. The longer you take gearing up, the more time a criminal has to prepare themselves for your response. Your normal officer gear can handle the vast majority of threats you will encounter. Even a taser’s voltage, while non-lethal to humanoids, can often kill most wild animals who might harm the crew. You shouldn’t need additional or specialized gear unless there are multiple threats working together, or the threat is known to be heavily armed. Remember again that your gear can be stolen if you fall in combat.

Law

Laws are a summary of most crimes with some suggested sentence times. The council or blackshield is sometimes able to set guidelines in exceptional circumstances, such as code red emergencies and station-wide threats.

Standard Procedure

Much of Security's guide has been moved to Standard Operating Procedure for reference by all crew. The following is only relevant to marshal and volunteer blackshield personnel.

Responding to Calls

If someone calls for the marshals, an officer should respond ASAP. Having another officer use the cameras to check the area is also recommended. Additional officers should be dispatched as needed.

Upon arriving at the scene, the first responder is expected to gauge the exact nature at the scene.

If the scene is clear:

• Radio in the situation at the scene.
• Ensure the safety of any crew in the immediate vicinity.
• Identify witnesses.
• Secure the scene in the event of occurrences (tape off area/disallow witness to leave).
• Proceed to collecting evidence.

If the scene is not clear:

• Identify nature of threat. Follow the rules of engagement as specified in Standard Operating Procedure.
• If threat is able to be handled by officers on scene: Proceed with mediation/detainment.
• If threat is unable to be handled by officers on scene: Request immediate assistance. Upon requesting assistance, await said assistance before proceeding. Ensure your safety before ensuring the safety of others on scene.

Collecting Evidence

• Crime scenes must be sealed off for evidence to be valid. Ensure non-security personnel do not enter the scene. Avoid cordoning off high-traffic areas unless a serious crime (such as murder or mutiny) has been committed. Permission from the relevant head of staff or warrant officer should be gained to cordon off high-traffic areas of specific departments.
• If possible, cordoned off areas should still allow access around it, via maintenance tunnels, less area taped off, or other methods.
• Autopsies should be performed within the morgue after revival attempts have been made.
• Disrupt standard station operation as little as possible around the crime scene.
• Investigative staff (Rangers) should be requested. Officers on scene are expected to ensure scene security until/during the arrival of/processing of the scene by investigative staff. If no investigative staff is available, officers are expected to secure evidence on scene.
• Witness statements should be taken (either via recorder or on paper) and physical evidence should be secured.

Handling Evidence

• Ensure gloves are worn to prevent contamination of evidence.
• Items that can be, must be held in evidence bags for transportation.
• Crime scene must be preserved until all evidence is collected.
• After evidence is collected, cadavers may be removed to the morgue and area may be cleaned up.

Arrest

Proceed as follows during the event of detainment:

• Follow the rules of engagement as always.
• If responding to more than a minor crime, attempt to get at least one officer to back you up in case of resisting. No more unless necessary.
• Request the suspect surrender peaceably.
• If suspect complies, escort them to the brig for processing. Handcuffs are not required for minor crimes.
• If suspect refuses, attempt to handcuff. Verbal disagreement or swearing is not considered resisting arrest. Actual threats however are covered by other laws.
• If suspect continues to resist, such as fighting back or running away, apply necessary force to neutralize and detain the suspect. A charge of resisting arrest should be applied in this case, as per Corporate Regulations §202.
• Bring the suspect to the brig for criminal processing.

Processing, Questioning, Jailing, and Release

These sections have been moved to Criminal Processing under Security's Standard Operating Procedure.

Permanent Holding

• Bring the prisoner to prison processing area as you normally would.
• Have the prisoner remove all items barring no-access Identification Cards, PDAs, and Radio Headsets. Ensure all cartridges/chips are removed from radios/PDAs. In the event that prisoner is uncooperative or cannot be allowed out of handcuffs without threat to officers' well being, additional officers should assist the prisoner in assuming the proper garb.
• Transfer prisoner into permanent holding.
• The prisoner's superior (Head of Staff) should be informed of their status.

Note: Prisoners moved into permanent holding should be checked on regularly.

Security controlled locations

Marshal Office and Armory: Security's home base. The armory contains additional weapons and armor which the warrant officer and supply specialist have access to. They should hand out this additional equipment as the situation escalates aboard the station. The security lockers with equipment are found here as well as the warrant officer's office and the briefing room/lounge. Within the briefing room/lounge is a supply machine. Contained within are several pieces of equipment useful to security officers (flashes, flash bangs, handcuffs, evidence bag boxes, and doughnuts).

Other good tips

• Application of force is often not the only solution to an issue. Lethal force should also only be pursued if all other routes fail.
• Minimal force should be used at all appropriate times, but not at the risk of your own life.
• Apply escalating force as deemed necessary by suspect's actions. Minimal force as required by a situation should be applied.
• You should not remove your headset, even if taking a break, as an emergency could begin at any time. If you are on break, let your superiors know.
• Don't play with contraband. Just because you're security doesn't mean other security won't arrest you for using contraband.
• If you see other security abusing contraband, arrest them and tell the WO so they get fired.
• When reporting your location, be specific. Screaming, "AAAHH HELP" doesn't actually result in help.
• Yelling over comms, yelling in general, typing allcaps on an angry PDA message, threatening people, or displaying other psychotic behaviors is very bad for a marshal, as it makes the crew hate you by default.
• Stay sober. Not only does getting drunk on duty look bad, but you also happen to carry weapons on you. People aren’t comfortable when you’re intoxicated and carrying weapons.
• Other unprofessional behavior is usually bad. Avoid looking unprofessional or mentally unstable.
• Mingle with the crew. They'll like you more and possibly be helpful as informants.
• There's no such thing as 'Acting WO'. Either there is an WO, or there isn't. There is no 'Acting'.
• The marshals has no authority over civilians other than Corporate Regulations. You cannot legally enforce any other orders on the crew under normal circumstances. If you try enforcing SoP on Cargo for example, you're going to be laughed at and probably fired.
• When questioning anyone, be they witness or suspect, or even other Security, be sure to listen to all sides with an unbiased ear. Just because something isn't true doesn't mean someone was intentionally lying. If you are being told something you know not to be true, then there's a reason they are doing that, and you have to find out why.
• Do not needlessly escalate situations; you should be working to defuse any potential hostile situation rather than resort to your weapons. There is never be a good reason to threaten the use of weapons. Either you're using them, or you aren't. Keep them holstered until they are being used.
• If you have a complaint or concern that’s related to security, voice them to your warrant officer. Be respectful, but be honest. Problems won’t get better if nobody knows about them.
• Report to the council if your boss or another head of staff breaks the law. Even if they don’t get fired, the council and faction owners still deserves to know.
• If you are fired as security staff, you should go immediately to surrender their gear before anything else. Save any protests or complaints until afterward. The moment the WO or faction owner says, “You’re fired,” you are instantly in possession of contraband, and will be arrested if you are not bringing it straight back to Security.
• Talk first (unless a suspect lets their weapons do the talking).
• Remember, Beepsky and other automated tools can be a useful tool in the apprehension of criminals.
• Heads of Department have the final say over their department barring council votes (i.e. don't just arrest people for vandalism because you think their redecorating sucks).
• Ensure access is properly cleared with Heads of Departments barring exceptional circumstances (i.e. major crime in progress). Don't just break into another department to make an arrest over a minor crime.
• Security can be corrupt. Try to calm your fellow officers if they get too hotheaded on the job.

OOC Notes

• As with any role, try to do your job more often than not. Security is a popular role, and you won't be very well liked if you're only playing a marshal to carry a gun, but you're not doing any other parts of the job.
• When in a conflict, roleplay until roleplay is no longer possible, such as if the suspect bolts off running or starts physically fighting. The server Rules explain this in more detail.
• Have a thick skin OOCly and be prepared to talk to admins often. People don’t like being arrested. Security is the #1 most drama-ridden job in any SS13 server, so you should be prepared to deal with that. If you do not react well under pressure, you will want to play something else. If you’re able to separate IC and OOC however, and you really like IC drama, then Security is the job for you.
• If people get start complaining in OOC at you, involve an admin before you say anything else. Trying to argue with them usually just makes it worse.
• On the other hand, if someone is being a special kind of thunder-cunt in-character after being arrested, such as constantly trying to escape, or throwing slurs at every officer who passes, or making rape threats, the admins really aren’t going to care a whole lot if you break their legs and leave them in solitary for the rest of the shift because you 'forgot' they were in there. In fact we admins consider this to be a reasonable IC response to someone being a shithead! You should still ahelp it, though.
• If someone attempts suicide in prison, like jumping down disposals, or mutilating themselves, then ahelp it. They'll probably get banned.
• If you're a person who enjoys having power, don't play Security. If you ignore this warning, you're going to be disturbed by how powerless you really are despite carrying weapons.